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A pit toilet built at a secluded part of a property.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) says significant progress has been made to eradicate pit toilets.
However, the commission says more still needs to be done.
The SAHRC conducted an investigation which has revealed that pit toilets remain a widespread issue in 427 schools in the Eastern Cape.
The commission says this is a systemic violation of learners’ constitutional rights.
The commission’s Dr. Eileen Carter has called on the Department of Basic Education to address the widespread sanitation crisis, which equally affects rural schools.
She says the so-called replacement Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrines fail to meet child safety standards.
“In order to eradicate these, what the department has done is they’ve rolled out the safe programme. But sometimes the rollout of the safe programme in the form of what we call the Ventilated Improved Pits has perhaps met a quantity target and not necessarily a quality target. So, what we saw, for instance, in the province was in the past few years, two out of the three deaths that occurred in a pit toilet it took place in the Ventilated Improved Pit toilet. So, if we don’t look at the safety measures of these improved latrines, then we merely put toilets in disguise and we are still endangering our youngest learners.”
VIDEO| Carter says the pit toilets replacement facilities need to adhere to safety regulations:
